Day 6 – Traveling Lands Real and Imagined

 I’ve been thinking about other types of travel tales that take us to places beyond our wildest dreams. While perusing my shelves and think of this rather different take on reading in place and traveling while sitting in my armchair, I decided that this next set of books falls into the categories of fiction and historical fiction. 

The first is Northwest Passage by Kenneth Roberts https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1274754.Northwest_Passage. It’s  a classic tale of exploration and adventure that takes the reader from rather known New England across the expanse of North America in search of a waterway from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. You travel through the mountains, plains, and more mountains in search of that elusive “road.” Along the way, the explorers meet indigenous peoples, see the flora and fauna, and describe what they see. Thankfully, armchair traveling means no dirt, hunger, or privation, all of which the members of the expedition experienced.

 

 

The Hobbit or There and Back Again by J.R.R. Tolkien takes travelers through the imaginary world of Middle Earth https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/42672.The_Hobbit. Replete with maps, illustrations, and extensive descriptions, armchair travelers hike through the mountainous countryside and the deep ravines, through the elven forests and along waterways. While the map may be spare, the words are not. Dive into the journey of the quiet, home-loving hobbit Bilbo Baggins, Gandalf, the Dwarves and Elfs, and meet the curious creatures along the way. What an amazing journey from the Shire to the caves of the dragon Smaug the Magnificent, and back again.

 

Next in this list of odd, tangential armchair traveling trips while reading in place, is the Chronicles of Narnia, most particularly The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis, Geoffrey Bles is the cover artist of this wonderful book, first published in 1950 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28491033-the-lion-the-witch-and-the-wardrobe . You can read more about this book https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lion,_the_Witch_and_the_Wardrobe and the author https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._S._Lewis on Wikipedia. Having read this many times, I realize you travel from wartime England, through the Wardrobe and into Narnia. If you read the other books in the series, you get to travel the great seas, the desert, and the forests with Peter, Susan, Edmund, Lucy, and of course Aslan.

 

I decided to add one more wonderful work of fiction that takes the reader on a journey, including Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass originally published in 1865 with illustrations by John Tenniel https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17828612-alice-s-adventures-in-wonderland-and-through-the-looking-glass . Alice’s journey takes here from England to an imaginary place, filled with a host of magical creatures. Armchair travelers get to hitch a ride on Alice’s journey. You can read more about this famous book on Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice%27s_Adventures_in_Wonderland

 

We’re almost done with this series of armchair traveling while reading in place. The final day (Day 7) we’ll travel beyond the boundaries of Earth into the vast unknown. Stay tuned.

Day 5 – Armchair Traveling through Maps

 

Armchair traveling using maps and following mapmakers is the perfect way to explore a country or place, event or battlefield, real or imaginary. In essence, maps are “visual” travelogues, the perfect way to travel while in your armchair.

 

Books of maps and maps in the fronts of books show the reader where places are for their future journeys. They also allow us to follow someone else’s journey while reading in place.

 

I pulled a few books of maps and mapmakers from my shelves to refresh my experience of traveling via maps. 

 

I’m going to start with mapmakers, those cartographers and surveyors who traveled through unknown lands and set boundaries onto paper.

 

John Noble Wilford’s “The Mapmakers,” originally published in 1981 with the subtitle “The Story of Great Pioneers in Cartography from Antiquity to the Space Age” is a classic book of vignettes about “great pioneers and adventurers, mapmakers” who “expanded our knowledge of the world around us.” Within the thick volume, you’ll explore the world with Chinese cartographers, Christopher Columbus, Magellan, and even Lewis and Clark. Exploring my shelves, I realize I have multiple copies of this lovely book, the hardcover containing much clearer maps. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6053648-the-mapmakers

 

Another book about mapmakers is “Measuring America: How an Untamed Wilderness Shaped the United States and Fulfilled the Promise of Democracy” by Andro Linkletter https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/498349.Measuring_America This book looks at how American surveyors, under Congress’ direction, figured out how to measure land, divide it up for sale, and help fund the Revolutionary War debt. There’s lots of discussion of the political debate. Better yet, there are maps and images of the surveyors who were instrumental during the early period of exploration of the American continent.

 

While not quite a book of maps, Simon Winchester’s “the Map That Changed the World: William Smith and the Birth of Modern Geology” https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/921954.The_Map_that_Changed_the_World takes readers on a journey through the folds of the earth and the ups and downs of Great Britain’s landscape as Smith’s map shows “the hidden underside of England.” There’s nothing like a journey through canals, coal mines, archaeological digs, and rural terrain to help readers travel while in their armchairs.

 

Jeff Shaara’s “Civil War Battlefields: Discovering America’s Hallowed Ground” https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/101650.Civil_War_Battlefields takes readers on a journey to and through the many battlefields and troop movements of the Civil War. It’s a slim volume replete with maps, photographs and drawings of the numerous battlefields scattered throughout the East, South, and West of continental United States. Take this book on a journey through the Civil War or just learn about the countryside, as the master of historical fiction about US wars tells you about those fateful days and nights. 

 

My shelves are full of books of maps, many atlases, and more books about travel through maps than I can believe.

 

 

Just to put your mind at ease, I do travel with paper maps of the states and towns I'm planning to visit on any road trip. I study the maps first, find those lovely blue highways and byways I wrote about yesterday, and then hit the road. Thanks to my AAA membership, I happily stock up with current maps and guidebooks to explore and read before, during, and after I hit the road.

 

 Tomorrow, Day 6, we’ll do some armchair traveling through imaginary lands with imaginary people.

 

DAY 4 – Armchair Traveling Through Guide Books

 

Last year, I was fortunate to travel in the Southeastern US and visit many places. While deciding where to go, I used a series of WPA (Works Progress Administration) state guides. These guides were researched and compiled as part of the WPA Federal Writers Project https://www.britannica.com/topic/WPA-Federal-Writers-Project. They are a marvelous series of books produced in the late 1930s and early 1940s.

Each Guide documents the state, the major towns, industries, entertainment, and even history. My favorite part of the WPA guides are the “Tours.” Each tour takes you along a road from one end to the other, describing that road, each town or village, and sights to see in each, from buildings to factories, and all the high points along the way.

By reading the WPA guides, you get a birds-eye view of each state, you learn about places that don’t exist any more and those that hadn’t matured. Florida, where I traveled the most, was a cast in point. Ft. Lauderdale was described in a paragraph, Boca Raton and Delray Beach not at all. Along each road on the tour were descriptions of the farms, ranches, and the everglades. What better way to learn about a place, to travel, than to see past and present intersect? You might not call this armchair traveling, but I certainly read in my armchair before venturing to explore Lake Okeechobee and places beyond.

You can read all about the WPA State Guides on Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Guide_Series Many have been reprinted and some are available on the used market. You can also find the WPA State Guides online at the Internet Archive and HathiTrust.

One day, I want to travel Route 1 from Florida to Maine using that WPA guide  

The other book I took with me on this trip, and many others, was William Least Heat Moon’s now classic Blue Highways: A Journey into America. In this amazing book, originally published in 1983, William Least Heat Moon takes readers along with him as he travels the lesser roads, blue highways on state maps, and sees what he can see. He’s a keen observer of places and people, stopping along the way to take in the sights, sounds, and foods, as he drives his pickup with a camper on the back. On my trip down to Florida, there were days when I drove the same blue highways and saw similar sights. What a treat to have someone describe the history of a place and then see it for myself. At night in hotels, I read in my armchair, traveling along with Heat-Moon, and marveling at the scenery and cultures across the length and breadth of America.

Tomorrow, Day 5, we’ll be armchair traveling via maps and books of map. Stay tuned!